By Ted Belman
By my count, Israel is losing the war. The major indicator of this is that Israel is begging for a ceasefire which gives them something while Hamas is refusing a ceasefire other than on her terms.
Israeli leadership is vacillating on what to do while Hamas leadership is determined.
Hamas remains on the offensive and is taking the fight to Israel. This is evident in the fact that the majority of soldier deaths over this weekend were on Israeli soil.
Hamas remains determined even though they have lost over 500 of their fighters while Israel is wobbling with the loss of 10% of that number.Israel had no choice but to invade in order to stop the rocket fire.. As an after thought Israel has focused on the tunnels and the need to demolish them.
Israel refuses to call this a war and refuses to commit to victory. Why not? Why does Israel tolerate Hamas which is dedicated to kill Israel and its people.
If Israel commits to victory the Gaza death toll could easily go up to 5000. In turns of world condemnation, it is already high and can’t go much higher. In fact fatigue will set in just as it has in Syria.
If Israel stops the war now, unilaterally as some suggest or even with a deal for quiet, it will be seen as the loser big time. It will be an humiliating defeat.
Just as Israel had no choice but to go in, she has no choice but to win.
Bear Klein Said:
Thanks!!!!! I hope Israel will stay the course to bring about the demise of Hamas once for all!
ISRAEL IS NOT LOSING WAR ISRAEL IS STILL FIGHTING WAR</strong> FRIENDS PLEASE DO NOT LOOSE YOUR SPIRIT!!
NO CEASEFIRE SOUGHT BY ISRAEL NOW
Israel is not losing war (calm down – wars are hard and many of us are armchair generals, including me, stay resolved).
The war goals do not seem ambitious enough but let us see what happens before we pass judgement!
k
Agreed. Ted, I hate the title of this article “Israel is losing the war”.
Let us not loose hope so quickly. Hamas’s option is:To fight until the end and then either surrender or RUN FOR THEIR LIVES TO SOME OTHER COUNTRY. SOME Members of Hamas prefer death to life with a false hope that they may have over 70 virgins in ‘heaven’. They falsely project a false appearance of success and determination while hiding in their caves, which potentially could be their burial ground sooner or later.
Between losing and decisively winning there is a wide par. I also strongly advocate destroying the Jihadis in Gaza. Otherwise there will be an additional round and occasional rockets.
Netanyahu already nixed killing the Hamas leaders. I expect Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire provided he gets a fig leaf to allow him to spin defeat as victory.
Israel has lost the war.
With over 50 soldiers dead, most of them killed within Israel (I think), Hamas leadership untouched, rockets raining down after three weeks of “heavy blows”, and ex-president Peres announcing that Israel “has exhausted its military option and should negotiate a ceasefire”,Bibi is now desperate for a ceasefire and amusingly, it is Hamas that is not letting him get one.
Hamas is going to force him to either destroy them, which he won’t, or to retreat in humiliation. My money is on Bibi retreating. As tisha b’av approaching, I’m getting a pretty bad feeling.
Netanyahu announced for today another four hour so called “humanitarian ceasefire.” The pressure from Obama to call off the war must be enormous. And Israel’s Foreign Ministry wants to foist another fake disarmament proposal modeled after UN Resolution 1701 on the country. Add it all up – Netanyahu is desperate to get out of Gaza. But Hamas will not make it easy for him to retreat and will exact the highest possible price. A country that repeatedly calls ceasefires is not a country determined to finish off the enemy.
Why would that be so?
Temporarily, withdrawing Idf out of harm’s way while iaf proceeds with a clear mission to destroy EVERYTHING standing and return to base.
SHUT OFF, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, THEIR ELECTRICITY , WATER , FOOD, ETC.
allow, an exodus of musloids towards the west
And THEN, and only then bring in ‘boots on the ground’.
Re world opinion… It will not be favorable.
So?
Either Netanyahu crushes Hamas and Gaza (and I mean level it, with just about every building destroyed, every rocket seized, every Hamas Nazi dead or fled) and the IDF actually fighting Jew-haters on the ground in Europe – or he is out as PM, and out as Likud leader. The only question would be whether Danon (the new Likud leader), Lieberman or Bennett gets the PM job.
From afar, my money is on Bennett.
@ yamit82:
That assumes it will remain a limited operation and Netanyahu can get the kind of deal he needs to survive politically at home. Obama has no interest in making him look good and putting Netanyahu in the hot seat is just fine from his point of view.
Netanyahu is well aware if he comes back with anything less than an Israeli victory, he is finished. Despite his best intentions, he is discovering what every one knows about war: its easier to start it than to end it. And that favorable exit has so far been like the mirage in the desert.
I don’t envy him his job.
Best analysis you have ever made so far re: current mini war.
Part of the reason why the government is loath to designate – this round with Gaza AS A WAR is the cost of declaring it a war as opposed to some other designation. Under Israeli law (official War designation), the government is obligated to cover a wide range of costs and expenses of all Israelis Hurt by the conflict financially and is not as it is today limited and largely discretionary.
Israel has two choices:
It can destroy Hamas or agree to a ceasefire on Hamas’ terms.
There is no third option. The Americans are not going to give Netanyahu, whom they loathe, any kind of political victory.
The Prime Minister’s dithering may cost Israel its chance to finish off Hamas. If that is the result, history will not be kind to him.